These are the new Kawasaki W800 Street and W800 CAFÉ and they are coming to a dealership near you in 2019. Kawasaki says that both models can trace their lineage back over half a century to the original 1966 W1 650; at the time the largest capacity four-stroke machine manufactured in Japan.
A number of W-models have been in the Kawasaki modern-classic/retro stable since, but this is 90% new and is Euro 4 compliant. Sharing a completely new chassis, each machine has modern brakes (with ABS and a disc rear for the first time) and modern touches such as LED lighting. The motor is a 773cc bevel driven camshaft parallel twin.
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No price has yet been announced but the bikes – which should hit our shores early in 2019 – are fully A2 licence compliant, so are both newbie and old-hand friendly. We rather like the look of them – not so sure about the brown colour scheme though.
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